Envelop



DQHARRIS.

(No Model.)

ENVELQP. y Patented Nov. 30, 1897'.

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47 .4b @gld DTO-LITHQ, WASHINCTUNA D. C.

THE wams PETERS cu. vn

UNITEDy STATES ATENT Aritten.

DAVID HARRIS, OF STAR, WISCONSIN.

ENVELO P.

SPEGIEICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 594,620, dated November 30, 1897.

' Application ned rtruary 1,1897. serial No. 621,483. (No man.)

To all whom t may concern.-

Be it known that I, DAVID HARRIS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Star, in the county of Vernon and State of Wisconsin, have invented a new and useful Envelop, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to envelops particularly adapted for first-class mail-matter and also designed for express and other packages; and the object in view is to provide an envelop wherein they exposed flaps, including the closing-nap, are interlocked and are sealed at such points as to be inaccessible without mutilation of the receptacle.

A further object of the invention is to provide an envelop having a closing-flap which is secured in place by means of gummed surf faces of the minimum extent, whereby the facility of closing the receptacle is increased.

A further object of the invention is to provide an envelop having a rein forced back, of which the members are locked in their normal positions by means of both the closing and the bottom flaps, whereby said members are secured at intermediate points by the same gummedsurfaces which serve to secure the closing and bottomrflaps in place.

A further object of the invention is to pro-l vide an envelop having interlocked members, wherein reduced tongues are dispensed with to reduce the cost of manufacture and the liability of detachment of such tongues.

Further objects and advantages of this invention will appear in the following description, and the novel features thereof will be lparticularly pointed out in the appended Fig. 3.

Similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures of the drawings.

The envelop-blank embodying my invention consists, essentially, of a main or front fold 1, integral interior and exterior back folds 2 and 3, attached to the side edges of the main or front fold, and integral end or closing and bottoml iiaps 5 and 6, attached to the upper and lower end edges of the main or front fold. Each of the back folds 2 and 3 is approximately coextensive with the front fold l, the exterior bac-k fold 3 being slightly out away at its outer edge, as shown at 4, to prevent the projection of said edge beyond the contiguous edge of the front fold when the parts are in their normal positions. (Illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3.)

The interior back fold 2 is the first to be folded over the front fold in the manufacture of the envelop, after which the exterior back fold 3 is turned over the interior fold and is secured to the latter by a gummed line l0, arranged parallel with the several edges of the exterior back fold.

The end flaps 5 and 6 are of less length than one-half the main fold and are preferably semicircular in construction, whereby the length of each is approximately equal to onehalf the wid th of the main fold, and as I desire to provide an interlocking connection between theend fla-ps and the back folds I preferably slit the exterior back fold at 7 7, respectively, contiguous to the inner edges of the end flaps to form pockets into which the central portions of the edgesof the end naps are inserted, as shown clearly in Fig. 3, and in order to increase the area of the inclosed portion of each end flap I make the slit 7 of curved construction, bowed outwardly toward the ends of the back fold 3 to form segment-shaped tongues S. These tongues are gummed upon their inner surfaces or those surfaces contiguous to the interior back fold to adhere to the exterior surfaces of the flaps 5 and 6, while the flaps are gumined upon their inner surfaces, as 'shown by the dotted lines 9, to adhere at their centers to the exterior lsurface of the interior back fold 2 and at their side portions to the outer surface of the exterior back fold 3. Thus each end flap, in

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extended is gummed to the exterior surface of said fiap. Hence the central portion of each iiap serves to connect the exterior and interior back folds at an intermediate point, the point of attachment of said Hap to the interior back fold being inaccessible by reason of the protection afforded by the overlapping segmental tongue.

Obviously one of the end flaps-namely, the closing-flap -is left open or unsecured, as shown in Fig. 2, when the envelop elnbodying my invention is placed upon the market, the bottom fiap G,however,being secured,as above described and as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, to insure the holding of the members of the envelop in their proper relative positions. After the insertion of the mail-matter or desired contents of the envelop the closingflap is folded downwardly and secured in the manner hereinbefore explained.

Inasmuch as the closing-flap is of a width equal only to the end edge of the main or front fold (the mail-matterbeing inserted at the end of the envelop instead of at the side, as in the ordinary practice) a comparatively small extent of gummed surface must be moistened in order to secure the iiap in its closed position. After the iiap has been inserted centrally into the pocket and properly gummed to the exterior and interior back folds the inner surface of the segmental tongue should be moistencd and caused to adhere to the exterior surface of the flap.

Even should the tongue 8 be loosened by means of steam or other agency in the operation of fraudulently opening the envelop, and even should the portion of the flap which adheres to the surface of the exterior back fold be loosened in a similar manner, it will be seen that the inclosed central portion of the flap, which is arranged below the plane of a straight line connecting the extremities of the curved slit 7, will be protected by the exterior back fold, and hence will be practically inaccessible by the means employed for opening envelops. In other words, there will be two thicknesses of material between the exterior surface of the envelop and the adhesive material by which the central portion of the flap is secured to the surface of the interior back fold.

Having described my invention, what I claim is- 1. An envelop having a blank comprising a rectangular front fold, interior and exterior back folds integral with the side edges of the front fold, the exterior back fold being provided at intermediate points with transverse slits and having its inner surface gummed parallel with its edges to adhere to the outer surface of the interior back fold, and closing and bottom flaps integral with the end edges of the front fold, and of a length greater than the intervals between the extremities of the front fold and said slits, for terminal insel'- tion through the latter, said iiaps having gummed inner surfaces to adhere to the outer surfaces of the exterior and interior back folds, and the exterior back fold being gummed contiguous to its slits for adhesion to the exterior surfaces of the flaps, substantially as specified.

2. An envelop having a blank comprising a rectangular main fold, integral approximately coextensive interior and exterior back folds arranged at the side edges of the front fold, the exterior back fold being provided at intermediate points with transverse curved slits, bowed respectively toward the contiguous ends of said fold to form outwardly-extending segmental tongues, and closing and bottom flaps integral with the front fold at its end edges, and of a length greater than the interval between each end edge of the front fold and the contiguous curved slit of the exterior back fold, and adapted to be inserted respectively through said slits, the exterior and interior back folds being adhesively connected at their edges, the flaps and tongue being gummed on their inner surfaces, substantially as specified.

3. An envelop having a blank provided with approximately coextensive front, and exterior and interior back, folds adapted to lie in parallel planes, the said back folds being adhesively connected, and the exterior back fold being slitled to expose the outer surface of the interior back fold; and peripherally-rounded end aps integral with the end edges of the front fold and adhesively secured, centrally, tothe outer surface of the interior back fold and, upon opposite sides of said central points, to the outer surface of the exterior back fold, said exterior back fold being further provided with tongues overlapping and adhesively secured to the exterior surfaces of the end flaps, substantially as specified.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

DAVID HARRIS.

IVitnesses:

CHARLES M. SEELY, WILLIAM E. LAwToN.

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